Means of identifying railway-tickets.



P. P. CUTTING. MEANS OF IDENTIFYING RAILWAY TICKETS.

APPLIOATION FILED OCT. 10, 1910.

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70 SAN MA T50.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH co., WASHINGTON, D c.

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UFFICE.

PHILIP '5. GUITING, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

MEANS OF IDENTIFYING EAILWA'Y-TICKETS.

To all whom it may cone 2m:

Be it known that I, PHILIP F. Corrine, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city and county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Means of Identifying liailwayTickets, of which the following is a specification.

The hereinafter described invention re lates to the issuing of railway stop over checks and identifying therewith on presentation the railway ticket controlling the issuance of said stop over check, the object of the invention being to save the railway company the loss which it at present sustains from the fraudulent use of substantially consumed railway tickets with a stop over check issued in connection with a previously purchased railway ticket for what may be termed a short ride, for which only a nominal fare charge is made in comparison with the ticket presented in conjunction with the stop over check for the alleged continuance of a journey. In other words, the invention is to overcome the systematic beati.ng2, Of the railway company out oi. fares, which, in the course of a year, runs into thousands of dollars, and the result of the la method at present employed in the issuance of stop over checks on railway tickets.

To comprehend the invention, reference should be had to the accompanying sheet of drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a plan View of an ordinary stop over check as issued and the punched railway ticket, the stop over check illustrating the punching when issued for an intermediate station in connection with a local railway ticket. Fig. 2 is a similar view of the stop over check and railway ticket issued for the line run, the stop over check being issued for a local station adjacent the destination called for by the railway ticket. Fig. 3 is a similar view illustrating the improved manner of issuing the stop over checks. Fig. i is a broken view disclosing the punched railway ticket and the stop over check separated.

To appreciate the invention, and the importance thereof, it will be necessary to briefly explain the present method of issuing stop over checks, likewise the system employed by unscrupulous travelers for cleir'rauding the railway company, which will Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 10, 1910.

lPatented Oct. 28,1913.

Serial No. 586,198.

be readily understood by reference to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings.

The traveler purchases a railway ticket 1, reading from San Francisco to San Mateo, distanced about twenty-five miles from San Francisco. ll hen the conductor of the train asks for the ticket, the passenger requests a stop over check for Millbrae, which is a station only a few miles outside o-t San Mateo. The conductor punches the railway ticket, returning the same to the traveler together with a punched stop over check 2, the form number oi the ticket being written by the conductor on the back of the stop over check. The traveler now has in his possession the railway ticket 1 and. the stop over check 2, each perforated with the punch mark 3, which he retains, and, if desiring to continue his journey after attending to such business as he may have in h lillbrae, he pays the nominal local fare to San Mateo. The next ourney to he made by the traveler, we will assume to be from San Francisco to Los Angeles, which is a night run from San Francisco. He purchases a ticket 4 reading from San Francisco to Los Angeles, and on presenting this ticket-to the conductor a stop over check is asked for Burbank, a local station just outside of Los Angeles, and he is given, bythe conductor, a stop over check 5 for Burbank, the railway ticket being returned. He then has in his possession the railway ticket to Los Angeles and the stop ever check issued thereon, the check and ticket containing the punch mark 6, and on the hack of the check having been written in the form number of the ticket. If the passenger wishes, after attending to business at Burbank, to continue the journey to Los Angeles, he pays the nominal local fare from Burbank. Assuming the passenger to have made each journey with the same train conductor, he will now have in his possession two stop over checks 2- aud 5 and two unused railway tickets 1 and 4t, each similarly punched. With these in his possession, the following method is resorted to in order to defraud the railway company: Un the next trip south, say to Los Angelcs, a ticket is purchased to Millhrae, the station designated by the stop ever check 2, at which station the traveler attends to such business as he may have to look after at such place and Waits for the following t "am for Los Angeles. Boarding the train, he presents to the conduc or the stop over check 2 and railway ticket at, reading from San Francisco to Los Angeles, but which has previously been traveled on from San Francisco to Burbank, the ticket form number on the back of stop over check 2 having been erased and substituted by the ticket form number of the previously used railway ticket at. The conductor examining the submitted stop over check and railway ticket, is satisfied that the passenger is continuing his travel from San Francisco to Los Angeles on a stop over check privilege and accepts the ticket for its face value or for the completion of the journey from Millbrae to Los Angeles, the passenger thus saving the fare for his second ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles, less the nominal cost of the local ticket from San Francisco to Millbrae. Vhere an unscrupulous traveler, or in fact, a number of such, is continually traveling between San Francisco and Los Angeles, the loss to the railway company by being thus defrauded runs into thousands of dollars per year. The means for overcoming this evil, detecting the unprincipled traveler and saving the railroad the money heretofore lost, is as follows :Presumingthe traveler to be the holder of the railroad ticket 7, reading from San Francisco to San Mateo, and he asks for a stop over check, say, for l Iilbrae, the conductor superimposes the railroad ticket 7 on the stop over check 8, carefully alining both the longitudinal and bottom edges of the said stopover check 8 and ticket 7 and punches simultaneously the held ticket and stop over check, adjacent the bottom and intermediate the longitudinal edges thereof, with a plurality of punch marks 9, and separately punches the stop over check at the designation for the station Millbrae. In the continuance of the nefarious scheme to defraud the railroad company, the passenger next purchases a ticket 10 from San Francisco to Los Angeles and on presentation ofthe ticket to he conductor requests a stop over check 11 for any station outside of Los Angelessay Burbank, which is issued to him by the conductor in the manner described relative to ticket 7, the punch holes 12 therein being differently situated. The passenger is now in possession of two partially used railway tickets and two stop over checks. In carrying out his policy to secure a second ride to Los Angeles free of cost on a substantially used railway ticket, when new; required to make a journey south, he purchases a local ticket from San Francisco to Millbrae, and in taking the train at Millbrae station for Los Angeles, he presents for transportation to the conductor the ticket 10 previously used on a ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles, on which he secured a stop over check for Burbank, together with the stop over check 8 issued for the station Millbrae on the ticket 7 from San Francisco to San Mateo. The conductor notes at once that the presented check is one given for a stop over at Millbrae and likewise that the railway ticket is one on which a stop over check has been issued, but he is not informed whether the stop over check is the one issued for that particular railway ticket. For identification purposes, he superimposes the railway ticket lO onto the issued stop ever check 8 alining the longitudinal and bottom edges of said ticket and stop over check and if the plurality of punch holes in one do not register with those in the other, and in the case under consideration they will not, he knows at once that the presented railway ticket is not the one on which the stop over check was issued; in which case the ticket is confiscated the same as a scalped ticket would be, and the passenger is either required to pay full fare for transportation to the desired destination or else leave the train. The identification of the ticket is thus a positive one inasmuch as the plurality of punch holes therein will only register with the corresponding punch holes formed in the stop over check given on said ticket at the time of the issuance thereof. Under the described manner of issuing stop over checks and identifying therewith on presentation the railway ticket for which said check was issued, the system at present resorted to for defrauding the railway company is completely destroyed, and the company saved the money at this time lost by such illegal or unlawful use of substantially used railway tickets.

While in the outline given for the manner of defrauding the railway, the example has been applied to'a single traveler, it will be understood that its use is not so limited,

inasmuch as the substantially used railway ticket with the preserved stop over check issued on a different railway ticket may be and is delivered to another party for use and is so used, to the loss of the company of so much railway fare, and likewise, its use is not confined to a single stop over check, inasmuch as at the present time the ticket issued for Los Angeles may be used over and over again within the limit of its point of destination, in fact, serve as a repeater. This is absolutely disposed of by the present invention for the means of issuing stop over checks and identifying the railway ticket therewith on presentation, for it is impossible for different conductors to so punch the railway ticket and stop over check with a plurality of punches, where they are punched at the same time, in such a manner that the ticket punched by one conductor Will register exactly with the plurality of punch holes in the stop ever check issued by another conductor.

Having thus described the invention What is claimed as new and desired to secure protection in by Letters Patent is In a means of identifying a stop over check with a railway ticket, the combination of an appropriately designated ticket and an appropriately designated stop over check, three edges of both the check and ticket being continuous and unbroken and adapted to register When the check is superimposed on the ticket, and the check and ticket having each a plurality of punched out parts spaced from the edges thereof, the punched out parts of the ticket and those of the check being adapted to register When the ticket and check are in the said superimposed relation stated.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

. PHILIP F. CUTTING.

Witnesses:

N. A. AGKER, D. B. RICHARDS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Gommissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

